Inivisible Man

At the time that Ralph Ellison writes the novel The Invisible Man there were, as there are today, many ideas on how to improve the black mans status in a segregated nation. On the other side was Booker T. Washington who preached for racial uplift through educational attainments and economic advancement. A man who strayed more on the middle path was W.E.B. Du Bois. He was less militant than most but was more so than Booker T. Washington. Ellison uses characters from the novel to represent these men. Booker T. Washington is given voice by the Bledsoe. W.E.B. Du Bois is never directly mentioned in the novel. However, the actions and thoughts of W.E.B. Du Bois are very similar to that of the narrator. While both men were after the same dream they all went about making that dream reality in different ways. There are strengths and weakness that can be found in both men?s philosophies.

Before I get into the more technical philosophies, a brief insight on the book Invisible Man. The book is about a young black man who learned from his grandfather on his death bed, that for a black man to succeed in life